Archive pages, such as category or tag archives, automatically organize your blog posts for visitors to explore. Although they can aid navigation and highlight older content, you might not need them in some situations. In this article, we’ll guide you on how to remove archive pages in WordPress, ensuring your website balance is optimized and easy to use

What You Must Know About Remove Archive Pages

Have you ever seen pages on your WordPress site that list older blog posts by month, category, or tag? These are known as archive pages. They automatically organize your WordPress posts, making navigation easier. However, there may be instances where you need to remove archive pages.

For Example, these pages might be causing duplicate content issues. Archives frequently display excerpts of content already present in individual WordPress posts, which search engines may identify as duplicate content.

• Each archive page types a unique URL that might showcase similar content filtered by specific criteria. This can unintentionally create multiple URLs with overlapping content.
• Or, perhaps you have a category that is rarely used or no longer relevant. Deleting that category archive page can help tidy up your website.
• However, there are some important considerations before you remove these pages. Some users rely on these pages to find and bookmark old blog posts they are interested in. If you delete them, those users might have difficulty locating those posts again.
• Improperly deleting archive pages can cause broken links from an SEO perspective. This can frustrate visitors who encounter these broken pages and harm your website’s search engine rankings.
• Although WordPress doesn’t offer a direct way to delete archive pages, alternative methods exist to manage them effectively. This step-by-step guide will help you remove archive pages without harming your WordPress SEO.

Here are links to quickly navigate to your preferred method

Method 1: Use AIOSEO to Noindex Archive Pages (Recommended)
Method 2: Noindex Archive Pages Using Code (For Specific Non-Taxonomy Pages)
Method 3: Redirect Archive Pages to Prevent Broken Links
Method 4: Remove Archive Pages Using a Plugin (For Non-Blog Sites)

Alternative: Create Custom Archive Pages

Method 1: Use AIOSEO to Noindex Archive Pages (Recommended)

Many SEO experts recommend the first method, which involves not indexing the archive pages instead of removing them entirely. This way, users can still access these pages, but search engines won’t index them.

John Mueller from Google discussed this in a Q&A session, offering sacrifice. These insights

You can either delete old content or move it to an archive section. You can also make these old pages no-index, allowing visitors to still access them on your website.

John Mueller, a Search Advocate at Google

• The simplest way to no-index archive pages is to use a plugin like All in One SEO (AIOSEO). This user-friendly method requires no coding and also provides extra SEO features such as on-page content optimization, an SEO audit checklist, and schema markup support.
• First, install the AIOSEO plugin. Both the free and premium versions include the necessary features for no-index archive pages. For installation help, refer to our guide on installing a WordPress plugin.

To no-index multiple archive pages, go to All in One SEO » Search Appearance, then navigate to the ‘Taxonomies’ tab.

Navigate to the Categories Section and Select ‘No’ under the ‘Show in Search Results’ Option.

Afterward, you’ll receive a notification stating: “Your Categories will be no-indexed and excluded from the sitemap to prevent search engines from indexing them. You can still customize how their page title appears below.”

1. If you navigate to the ‘Advanced’ tab, you’ll notice that the default settings are disabled.
   You’ll also notice that the ‘No Index’ checkbox is enabled in the Robots Meta Settings.
2. Next, scroll down to locate the settings for your archive tag pages and any other custom taxonomies you have. Set these to no-index to prevent them from being indexed by search engines.
3. After making these adjustments, click ‘Save Changes’ at the top left corner to apply the updates.
4. To no-index date and author archive pages, go to the ‘Archives’ tab.
5. There, you’ll find settings to no-index both author and date pages.
6. As before, choose ‘No’ in the ‘Show Search Results’ setting for both the author and date archive pages.
7. Finally, click the ‘Save Changes’ button at the top to apply your changes.

Option 2: Noindex-Specific Taxonomy Archive Pages

• This option allows you to no-index particular archive pages. For instance, you might have an outdated category page that you want to exclude from search engine results while keeping the rest of your category pages indexed.
• To do this, go to the front end of your website and open the category, tag, or custom taxonomy page you wish to no-index. Then, click on ‘Edit Category’ in the top admin bar, as shown in the screenshot
• This will open the category or tag editor. Scroll down to the ‘AIOSEO Settings’ section and navigate to the ‘Advanced’ tab. In the Robots Settings, uncheck the ‘Use Default Settings’ option and select the ‘No Index’ box. Finally, click ‘Update’ to save your changes.
• Unfortunately, AIOSEO doesn’t yet have a feature to no-index specific, non-taxonomy archive pages. However, there’s still an easy way to accomplish this using the method below.

Method 2: Noindex Archive Pages Coding (For Specific Non-Taxonomy Pages)

• To index non-taxonomy archive pages, you’ll need to add a custom code snippet to your website, specifically in your WP theme’s functions.php file.
• If this sounds daunting, do not worry. The safest way to add code to WP is by using WP Code, a top-notch code snippet plugin.
• WP Code allows you to easily insert custom code without directly editing your theme files, reducing the risk of breaking your website. Plus, your custom code will stay in place even after theme updates, ensuring your index code remains effective.
• First of all, install and activate WP Code then the free and premium versions are suitable for this tutorial, though the premium version includes a special mode to safely test your code before it goes live.
• Important instructions, check out our guide on how to install a WP plugin.    Next, navigate to Code Snippets » + Add Snippet. Then, ‘adding Your Custom Code (New Snippet)’ and click ‘Use snippet.’

Now, go ahead and give your new snippet a name, something simple like ‘Noindex Archive Pages.’

• Ensure the Code Type is set to ‘HTML Snippet.’
• In the ‘Code appear box, copy and paste the following code:
• This code is a robot meta tag designed to instruct explore engines not to index a particular web page.
• Once you’ve added the code, roll the sheet down to the ‘Insertion’ sector
• Set the Insert Method to ‘Auto Insert’ and the Location to ‘Site Wide Header.’
• Next, scroll down to the ‘ elegant Conditional Logic’ compartment.
• Activate the ‘Enable Logic’ setting.

For the Conditions, select ‘Show,’ then choose ‘Page URL,’ and set it to ‘Is.’ In the last field, insert the URL of the specific archive page you want to no-index.

• If you need to no-index additional pages, click ‘AND’ to add more URLs and repeat the process.
• After you’ve entered all the necessary URLs, set the code to ‘Active’ and click ‘Save Snippet.’
• To verify that your page is successfully no-indexed, open the archive page and view its page source.
• In Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page and select ‘View Page Source.’

Press Control/Command + F to bring up the search bar and type ‘no-index.’ This should highlight the no-index tag you added. If it appears between the … tags, you’ve added the code correctly.

Method 3: Redirect Archive Pages to Avoid Crushed Links

• If you’ve decided to pull out certain archive pages from your WP blog, you might be worried about pull-out links or frustrated visitors who might still try to access them. This can happen if someone has bookmarked an older archive page on your website.
• To address this point at issue, you can redirect the archive pages using a redirect plugin. This way, visitors who land on those old links will not see an error message. Instead, they will be taken to a relevant page on your website.

Step (i): Installed an Activate AIOSEO Pro Plugin

First, you will need to install and power the AIOSEO Pro plugin, as it has the feature to comfortably redirect one page to another on your website. If you ain’t sure how to install a WP plugin, you can follow our detailed guide on installing WordPress plugins.

Step(ii): Access the Redirects Feature

Once AIOSEO Pro is installed and activated, navigate to All in One SEO » Redirects. This section of the plugin will allow you to manage all your redirects.

Step (iii): Set Up Your Redirect

• In the ‘Redirects’ tab, you will need to insert the Source URL and the Target URL. The Source URL is the archive page you want to remove, and the Target URL is the page you want to redirect users to.
• When choosing a target URL, it’s best to pick a page that aligns with what visitors might be looking for when they land on the old archive page. For instance, if you have a software review website and you’re removing a category archive for a discontinued platform, a good target URL could be a recent post explaining why the software is no longer available. This way, visitors receive helpful information even though the original archive page is gone.
• Alternatively, if there isn’t a specific page that makes sense, you can redirect users to your homepage. This ensures they still land on a functional part of your site rather than encountering an error.

Step (iv): Choose a Redirect Type

Below the URL fields, you’ll need to choose a ‘Redirect Type.’ In most cases, you will want to use ‘301 Moved indissoluble .’ This tells explore engines that the page has been indissolubly moved to a new location, which helps to preserve any search engine rankings the original page had.

Step (v) Add the Redirect

Once you’ve entered the Source URL and target URL, and chosen the redirect type, enter‘Add Redirect.’ Your redirect will now be active, and any visitors who try accessing the old archive page will be seamlessly directed to the new URL.

Example Scenario

Imagine you run a blog that reviews various software. You’ve decided to remove the archive for a category dedicated to a discontinued platform. Visitors who bookmarked this archive page or found it through explore-engines will now be redirected to a new post that explains why the software was discontinued and suggests alternative solutions. This not only provides a different class user experience but also keeps them engaged with your content.

Benefits of Putting to Use Redirects

By using redirects, you avoid broken links on your site, which can be frustrating to explore and damaging to your SEO. Redirects help maintain seamless user participation, ensuring that visitors find valuable content even if the original page no longer exists. Additionally, it helps in retaining the SEO value of your old pages by passing it on to the new ones.

Once you’ve set up the redirect, open your old archive page. If it successfully lands on the goal page URL, your redirection has to be in working order. For more details, you can refer to our beginner’s guide on creating 301 redirects in WordPress.

Method 4: Remove Archive Pages With a Plugin (For Non-Blog Sites)

• If your WordPress website doesn’t have a blog and archive pages don’t add value, you can remove them using the Smart Archive Page Remove plugin.
• First, install and activate the plugin in your WordPress admin area. Navigate to Settings » Archive Pages.
• Here you can select the archive pages you want to remove by toggling the appropriate buttons.
• After making your selections, click ‘Save Changes.
• This method ensures that unnecessary archive pages are removed from your site streamlining your content and improving the user experience.

When you go to your archive page you should see a 404 errors that say the page is not found.

1. Alternative: Open Archive Pages. Instead of removing archive pages entirely consider opening custom archive pages This gives you more control over how the pages look and function offering a better user experience for visitors.
2. If your archive page is easy to navigate then users will find it useful and stay longer on your website. In turn, you can increase your pageviews and reduce your bounce rate and search engines will see this as a sign that users like your website.
3. The easiest way to open a custom archives page is with SeedProd. This drag-drop page builder has more templates and building blocks to design a user-friendly archives page which people find helpful.
4. Here are some tips for improving your archive pages: Include a custom explore form to help users filter through the content list.
5. Show your most popular content from the archive keeping visitors engaged.
   Having specific custom post types [like recipes ] try creating and organizing archive pages for these posts for easier navigation.
6. Display your archive pages in the sidebar or navigation menu so users can easily access them when needed.
7. Hoping, this article helped you learn how to remove the archive page in WP. You may also want to check out our article on how to add and use widgets in WP and our list of must-have WP plugins to grow your website.

Conclusion

Redirecting archive pages that you’ve decided to remove is a practical way to handle outdated content without disrupting your visitors’ experience. Using AIOSEO Pro’s redirect feature, you can easily manage these changes and ensure your site continues to run smoothly. Whether you’re redirecting to a specific page or your homepage, this method helps maintain a professional and user-friendly website.

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